buying a car in the north

oscarbandit0

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We are looking at a car in the North in Crawfords Garage in Lisburn.

What would be the most cost effective way to pay - Will the bank charge us a commission if we write a Euro Cheque (assuming that they accept a Euro cheque).

We have looked up the duty costs etc.

Any advice on purchasing a car in the north would be appreciated - any hidden costs apart from the number plates.

Thank you in advance.
 
Remember that the rules are different re: new cars and 2nd hand cars.
 
Leo you can't use laser card as yo u can only put €1500 on card in one transaction. Rmfc - what do u mean that the rules are different for new and old cars. jackkayphd -thanks for that link.
 
Uk car import guide

Fairly comprehensive guide here that should help out
[broken link removed]
 
Leo you can't use laser card as yo u can only put €1500 on card in one transaction. Rmfc - what do u mean that the rules are different for new and old cars. jackkayphd -thanks for that link.

I bought a pre-registered model recently. It was approx 4 months old.

I think the car must be over 6 months old AND have more than 6000km to be considered a 2nd hand car in RoI by Revenue.

If its less than this, it is considered NEW, and you have to pay VAT on it (I think). I know that when I bought mine I didn't pay VAT on the NI side, but paid it on the RoI side, which was slightly higher.
 
I bought a pre-registered model recently. It was approx 4 months old.

I think the car must be over 6 months old AND have more than 6000km to be considered a 2nd hand car in RoI by Revenue.

If its less than this, it is considered NEW, and you have to pay VAT on it (I think). I know that when I bought mine I didn't pay VAT on the NI side, but paid it on the RoI side, which was slightly higher.


Thanks for that - we getting a 2006 6 seater opel sri diesel with extras (leaving it up to hubbie!!) so we should be ok.

Do you have to bring to NCT center that day or do you book in?

Thanks a mill for all the advice.
 
You will have to book a VRT inspection at a NCT centre www.ncts.ie
This is a seperate inspection to the actual NCT test , although it may be possible to have the two inspections on the one booking , perhaps somebody else could clarify whather that is possible.
Most dealers on the Northern side of the border would arrange to have this done prior to collecting the car , so its something that you should ask.
 
Leo you can't use laser card as yo u can only put €1500 on card in one transaction.

The Laser scheme has no transaction limit, though providers can choose to implement one themselves. Even if they do, you can ask them to temporarily increase it. I know a number of people who have bough cars in the UK using laser as the payment method.
 
The Laser scheme has no transaction limit, though providers can choose to implement one themselves. Even if they do, you can ask them to temporarily increase it. I know a number of people who have bough cars in the UK using laser as the payment method.
Hi Leo - thanks for that I rang the bank and they said that they would not increase the limit but that the laser could be "put through" several times to reach the amount - but they couldn't gaurantee that the card would not get blocked. Pretty annoying I thought!!!

Thanks a mill for your help.

HTML:
You will have to book a VRT inspection at a NCT centre www.ncts.ie
This is a seperate inspection to the actual NCT test , although it may  be possible to have the two inspections on the one booking , perhaps  somebody else could clarify whather that is possible.
Most dealers on the Northern side of the border would arrange to have  this done prior to collecting the car , so its something that you should  ask.

Thanks for that theshark - I will check that out.
 
paying for uk import

What would be the most cost effective way to pay - Will the bank charge us a commission if we write a Euro Cheque (assuming that they accept a Euro cheque).

laser or cheque, you'' probably lose 2-300 euro in foreign exchange
call your bank and see how much euro your sterling will cost you to transfer, contact transfermate.com in dublin and see who is cheaper
 
I totally recommend buying a car up north. The spec on second hand cars up north on average is much higher. Apart from the VRT there is no extra cost, you can get a quote for the vrt on revenue.ie
 
Hi almost broke. We ended up getting our car in the north and as you say we got a higher spec and it worked out cheaper. Just to be aware that the VRT changes every month. There was a significant difference in VRT in Nov and Dec and then in Jan 11 it went back to Nov rate. Very strange.

Thanks to everyone for their advice.
 
Just to be aware that the VRT changes every month. There was a significant difference in VRT in Nov and Dec and then in Jan 11 it went back to Nov rate. Very strange.

It has been reported here in previous threads that Revenue adjust the VRT rates based on a number of factors, including the number of online searches for the VRT rate for that particular model.
Leo
 
there was absolutely no changes to VRT on my search (same car, same spec) in Jan, Feb or March.
Also when I did put my car through last week, the calculator was spot on.

The bigger determinant to the cost may well be the exchange rate between euro & sterling.
 
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